The ladies masters athletes from the SMTFA competing at the Flash Athletic Meet in Oct at the Bishan Stadium.

3/24/2015

Remembering Lee Kuan Yew

Channel News Asia ran a full day programme on LKY and many people
related many encounters with him to show the different aspects of him as
a leader and as a man. Under his watch, it was all about Singaporeans,
jobs for Singaporeans, homes for Singaporeans. He was obsessed with
creating not just jobs, but good jobs, and not just homes but good homes
for Singaporeans. There are still many good jobs being created today,
and many good homes built. Somehow they are not going to Singaporeans
but foreigners, especially those CEO positions. Whenever one is vacant,
the joker’s first response was to look around the world for a foreigner.
And many good homes are now the homes of foreigners, practically whole
condo or development could be bought over and occupied by foreigners and
become foreign enclaves. You would not believe you are in Singapore
when you stepped into them.

Briefly I saw this clip on TV about LKY saying that he expected every
button that he pushed to work. And if any button did not work, then
someone would be in serious trouble or would lose his job. That was the
kind of demanding and high standards he set for the whole govt. He did
not go around saying he was unhappy about jobs badly done and hoped that
they would improve or be done better. Wimps would say such things.
Can’t imagine what he would do if he is still in the seat and seeing the
deplorable state of the mrt. Just cannot imagine.

What kind of standard are we setting today? Or was there any standard
expected? I remember those days in Mindef. LKY was one of the consumers
of our reports, in fact the most important consumer. And our reports
going out to the cabinet, with him on top of the list, must be as
perfect as they could be. No mistakes, not even a missing comma or a
full stop. Don’t ever dare to put out any report with typo or factual
errors. It was unforgiveable. That was the kind of professionalism
expected and that was the standard kept, to please him.

There was one of those days, our reports, after being vetted and vetted
and cleared for print and delivery, were on their way to the cabinet
ministers. The phone rang and an anxious voice came over. ‘Stop the
report, there was a comma missing!’ His voice was shaking. Too late, the
reports would have reached the ministries by then, and the Istana as
well, and could be on the desk of the ministers and the desk of LKY.
All the staff was ordered to call the minister’s PAs to intercept the
report. A few minutes went past and several frantic calls made in quick
succession.

Phew, we made it. The reports were stopped at the PAs and the drivers
were despatched with a new set of reports, error amended, and to
retrieve the earlier reports on the way. It might seem obsessive, but it
was a very high standard demanded and to be maintained at all times
with no compromise. Not only LKY was reading it, Goh Keng Swee too would
not tolerate sloppiness. Everyone lived up to that kind of task
masters. He demanded perfection, we delivered perfection.

That was my close encounter with the man, and my fingers could
have been burnt. There were many trips to the Istana and every time a tense
moment, making sure every small detail was in order. Fortunately nothing
untoward happened during my watch.

What is happening today is unbelieveable. Everything is like a friendly
game with little or no consequence. Mistake, never mind, try to do it
better the second time, or the third time or the fourth time. Making
mistakes is human for human. Not then, when human are expected to be
perfect human or inhuman. There was no room for error dealing with this
man if you want to keep your job.

It is happy times today, happy hours all round. A new normal has taken
over. Maybe that is the reason why foreigners are needed to do a better
job when Singaporeans no longer able to.

39 comments:

Anonymous
said...

"Everything is like a friendly game with little or no consequence."RB

Of course. Of what consequences can there be if the Sinkie opposition is still not ready to be govt? Will the majority (aka 60%) Sinkies dare to face the consequences of PAP being voted out, u tell me lah?

And u know why the Sinkie opposition is still not ready to be govt? This is very much due to, among other things, what LKY had done during his long rule, with the effects of it even felt up to this day. And if I were Ah Loong, this is the best legacy, and not money or property, that he left for me.

Exactly! That how I remembered LKY. A man who demand strict disciplines and standards. Alas, what happens in the past ten/twenty years is disappointing. That kind of standards are not to be found except for sky high salary.

"Stop the report, there was a comma missing!’ His voice was shaking. "

It's good to maintain a high standard.But it's also good to have a sense of proportion and focusing on the important stuff and ignoring the trivia.And if we can't tell the difference between important stuff and trivialities ... it's no wonder we have such long working hours.And it is the Leader's job to make very clear what is important and what is not.

No wonder we have so many Ministers In the Prime Ministers' Office.Are they still checking for punctuation and grammar?

Yah, I know. It's tragic. Which is why I stand by my point: Singapore needs an iron-fisted, no-nonsense Benign Dictator to be in total control.

People reckon that LKY tekan the people too much. I disagree. The main focus of his intolerant tekaning was his govt. Even god can't help you if you screw up. If you play fucking "corruption" with one of his "babies"---for e.g. HDB, then you'd better kill yourself. ;-)

>> Maybe that is the reason why foreigners are needed to do a better job when Singaporeans no longer able to.

Abso-fucking-lutely. This too, I've been saying.

To the man's credit, he did say that the slack-arsed locals needs "spurs" to make them "hard driving" and "Hard striving".

So stop complaining about the foreigners this, the foreigners that. The reason that many of them who are not that good, and they got your jobs anyway, is to wake up your motherfucking ideas. THAT is one of the "spurs" he's referring to.

But instead of rising to the challenge, the Sheeple chose to wimp out instead and cry like fucking babies.

In those days the high standard was maintained without so many ministers in the PMO and without multi million dollar pay.

Everyone was working to a different tempo and expectations.

The missing comma is just a way to highlight the kind of expectations and standard. You do not send a piece of work to the PM or ministers with errors in it. Now anyhow also can. Now suka suka put up a report, got a mistake here and there never mind.

It shows the kind of thinking and attitude towards pride in a person's work.

"The missing comma is just a way to highlight the kind of expectations and standard ..... It shows the kind of thinking and attitude towards pride in a person's work.Try reading the ST with one or two commas missing here and there."

redbeanYour point is well taken. And I understood the intention of your article.And yes, the missing comma may have been important.

What I find very troubling (and I have worked as a civil servant before) is the "shaking voice".It's the culture of fear.The fear of mistakes.

And that's why you have the uniquely Singapore phrase "double confirm".Just how many times do you need to confirm something?

In manufacturing this is explained by the phrase "you cannot inspect quality into a product."The focus has to be on building a robust and sound manufacturing process that churns out good products as a matter of course.

The culture of fear and subservience to authority and higher-ups will prevent Singaporeans and Singapore from making any further improvements.

How to make good decisions in the battlefield of war if the soldiers cannot tell the General the truth about insufficient supplies and lousy equipment?Lui Tuck Yew is walking around telling us that his survey says Singaporeans are very satisfied with the MRT.

"... why is it important to pick up a piece of litter on the street? Not important lah, got more important things to do lah.If Sinkies think like you, soon we will have shits all over the island."March 24, 2015 10:11 am

There is something called "a sense of proportion" and also priority.There are many things troubling Singapore today.And if you think they can be solved by picking up litter ... go ahead and organize a cleanup brigade. I will also join in.

The phrase "Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" is a good example.The iceberg is looming.And you want to rearrange the deck chairs?

There was a big campaign in the 80s called 'Zero Defect'. This is still very important in work safety.

It is about driving into the people a sense of doing things with as little and if possible not defects. It is difficult but if the people can think that every defect is important and to be avoided, you will get a very different kind of workforce and people.

We must not accept the attitude that small defects are ok. Why are the streets of Japan spotlessly clean?

Why are out streets constantly dirty and why are people so comfortable to litter? It is a mind game, an attitude towards perfection or an attitude towards slackiness and sloppiness.

Is 99% ok? Imagine every 100 days, we have one day of power failure, one day no water, or every 100 sentences in ST there will be one mistake.

Look at the new normal about train breakdown? Now there is an acceptance that it is ok. No big deal, the trains are running and better than many 3rd world countries. What is the problem? Count your blessing.

In the early stages of demanding perfection, there would be fear for not meeting the expectation. When it is second nature, things will be different.

Below is an amended copy of my first draft. I chose to correct the typos even if this is just a blog.

There was a big campaign in the 80s called 'Zero Defect'. This is still very important in work safety.

It is about driving into the people a sense of doing things with as little and if possible no defects. It is difficult but if the people can think that every defect is important and to be avoided, you will get a very different kind of workforce and people.

We must not accept the attitude that small defects are ok. Why are the streets of Japan spotlessly clean?

Why are our streets constantly dirty and why are people so comfortable to litter? It is a mind game, an attitude towards perfection or an attitude towards slackiness and sloppiness.

Is 99% ok? Imagine every 100 days we have one day of power failure, one day no water, or every 100 sentences in ST there will be one mistake.

Look at the new normal about train breakdown? Now there is an acceptance that it is ok. No big deal, the trains are running and better than many 3rd world countries. What is the problem? Count your blessings.

In the early stages of demanding perfection, there would be fear for not meeting the expectation. When it is second nature, things will be different.

"There was a big campaign in the 80s called 'Zero Defect'. This is still very important in work safety. "

The point is that you cannot achieve "quality" products by exhortation, hard work, good intentions, campaigns, and hiring more quality inspectors.Unfortunately, this is the Singapore way.(Another good example is PRC's Mao attempt to make steel in the backyard of a peasant farmer's home.)

My former manager calls it "letting the lunatics run the asylum".Standards of quality and production methods are decided by managers and engineers who have the tools and resources to determine what is or is not possible and important.Not by the production workers.Of course the production workers should be consulted ... but the leaders have to show & prove that it can be done

Six sigma is such an example.

Six Sigma is a set of techniques and tools for process improvement. It was developed by Motorola in 1986. Jack Welch made it central to his business strategy at General Electric in 1995. Today, it is used in many industrial sectors.

Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects (errors) and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a set of quality management methods, mainly empirical, statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization ("Champions", "Black Belts", "Green Belts", "Yellow Belts", etc.) who are experts in these methods. Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined sequence of steps and has quantified value targets, for example: reduce process cycle time, reduce pollution, reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, and increase profits.

In the six Sigma method, the idea of parachuting a General or an eye surgeon to run the MRT system is laughable.Six Sigma demands that the leadership knows what it is doing.And to show the workers HOW it can be done.

Six Sigma method would laugh at the idea of a General and a bunch of army guys running loose in an organization asking the workers and technicians what is wrong with the train system.

Six Sigma demands that the leaders know what they are doing.And to show the workers how to do it.Leaders must lead and show the way.

"Six Sigma method would laugh at the idea of a General and a bunch of army guys running loose in an organization asking the workers and technicians what is wrong with the train system."Anon 11:15 am

Not really lah. Six Sigma method can also mean a good Big boss will be able to get managers and engineers who have the tools and resources to determine what is or is not possible and important.

Hence most importantly, these managers and engineers must also have a good big boss, tio bo? And a good big boss may not necessarily also be an engineer, can be a General, eye surgeon or even a lawyer like the late LKY, which was a good example.

Dear redbeanI'm not dogmatic. Again your points about Ng Eng Hen showing pilots how to fly are well taken.

But going back to your story about the missing comma.1. Could not the PA who had the reports be requested to fill in the missing comma with a pen?Why must take back and retype a fresh new copy?

2. Could not LKY have been consulted and informed about the amount of effort and resources required to ensure that he had punctuation free reports?And then let LKY decide if zero defect was worth the return on effort?

I know Singaporeans well enough to know that it's unlikely that points #1 and #2 would never even have been considered.And yet we talk productivity.When a simple conversation and discussion would have simplified, clarified and use less resources.

Zero defect.Six sigma can quantify whether this is possible and if so, how much it will cost.And whether it's justified with a simple cost benefit analysis.But in Singapore's climate of fear.All we have is a lot of useless wayang and hard work that accomplishes nothing.

Thats is why I say we need FTs here.Local Sinkies tend to be sloppy and cause the organization that they work for looks bad.Just met my poor towkay neighbour with sad face as he received a letter to attend court for second hearing on his wife's birthday for late payment of his staff cpf causing him to quarrel with his wife over cancelling of dinner."Thought you told me you settled the case by paying up last tuesday n was told no need to go last week hearing?""Yes just called them and they say the latest cheque will be bank in today but kind to say I can ignore the letter."This is not a matter of comma or full stop.Can cause marriage to be wrecked.We need FTs if Sinkies are complacent .

I used to have a PA when I took over another appointment. The incumbent was kind of waiting for retirement and the sloppiness was shocking. During those days when IBM golf ball was still a luxury, typing errors were blanco and retyped over the white smear. It was never even and very untidy and unsightly.

A one page letter with 10 blanco typed over errors was awful. That was her standard with the incumbent. I told her my standard was no error. After a while she got it. And she would retype every page when there was an error. It became second nature.

I shared your view that a minor error may not justify the effort to retype everything. When she got used to error free letters, I interjected and told her to blanco over if there was only one mistake. But she too could not tolerate any mistake anymore and would redo everthing.

Pride of producing a good piece of work is an attitude to develop. And yes, there would be the conflict between waste and perfection. It is also about getting use to the new standard and doing it right the first time.

Seen how much debris the contractors left behind after their job was done? In countries like Japan, the contractors would leave the place clean and tidy after their work was done. No need to clean again or to get rid of their leftovers.

IMO, LKY did not achieve the sg transformation without the help of many others. I think the media over selling his achievements. He may be a great leader but there were many who sweated and sacrificed with him as well.

All those six sickma and lean meat management are created for CONsulting firm to earn big bucks selling the same thing over and over again. (another way to transfer public monies into private elite hands). All that matters is a better and cheaper product.

Dear redbeanThanks for sharing your experience.Again I concede that you also have a point here.

The world is too complex for a one-size fits all solution.What I want to see from my political leaders is an active questioning and critical mind into our current state of affairs in Singapore.Not a blind following of the Gospel according to LKY and his Hard Truths.But I also am familiar with PAP's culture.Nothing will change until PAP loses three or more GRCs.Then maybe they will have a rethink.

OK folks, here's the downside to LKY's philosophy of Zero Defect. Over time when this kind of disproportional consequence breeds a culture neurotically focused on "PERFECTION"---which means no one is willing to take risks to make mistakes for FEAR of being "punished", or at least reprimanded severely.

And thus....well, you think about it and ponder. This is like a "tumour" in Singapore culture.

Science and engineering, and all creativity is all about failing over and over, making huge errors...but taken in the right spirit to LEARN, innovate, solve, design etc etc. You have to lose, waste money, waste time, waste effort...even cut losses and walk away...and be "OK" with it.

And perhaps one day, 10 or 20 or 100 years later: SUCCESS! You don't quit. You keep going failure after failure. No lah Singapore, you still don't have that spirit. You're too scared.

Failure is important and necessary. Otherwise how to progress? I mean, human spirit type of progress, not merely economic success, or how many Ferrari's and bunglows you own.

Hi Mati, I often disagree with you philosophy, but in this post you are spot on. Singaporeans are too timid and kiasu to be anything other than followers. Singaporeans have been conditioned to be so scared of failure that they would never be able to think out of the box. FTs will always be needed in Singapore to lead them. LKY's system of education which produces people who are able to regurgitate texts, formulae and answers to achieve A*s do not make good inventors and leaders. Singapore will always be a nation that follows the pack, never a leader. LKY was right when he said that Singaporeans have become lazy and need to be spurred. It was his doing anyway that has led to a nation of non-thinkers.

LKY was right when he said that Singaporeans have become lazy and need to be spurred. It was his doing anyway that has led to a nation of non-thinkers.March 24, 2015 9:06 pm

You are right.LKY created this problem.And he is blaming Singaporeans instead of himself.Typical of weak leaders.Isn't it a familiar story?Don't you think that many PAP Leeders blame Singaporeans for the problems in Singapore?

"MRT breaks down often because Singaporeans want to all travel on the MRT at the same time."Despite the fact that 50% of people taking MRT are Aliens.

As usual Mati contradicts himself in his rantings. He thinks Singapore needs an `iron-fisted, no nonsence Benign Dictator` and then almost in the same breath concedes that this FEAR of being punished that it unwittingly instills is a `tumour` in Singapore`s culture. Well that is precisely why it breeds the kind of unintended consequences that we now see. You would imagine then that he and the incumbent government recognised the self-destructive nature of this culture of fear, whether it be fear of losing one`s job to foreigners or anything else and therefore change their policies and approaches accordingly.

Another thing is that there is a qualitative difference between making a mistake as a result of carelessness and making a mistake and failing when undertaking a fresh challenge or venture when the variables are not yet known. What LKY was intolerant of, and rightly so, was the former, but unwittingly because of the culture of fear that it unintentionally instilled, it served to stifle adventurism and risk-taking in the latter.

When people making mistakes think it is ok when the simple mistakes can be easily avoided is a sign of mediocrity, lack of discipline, sloppiness etc. The right to make mistakes or making mistakes in entrepreunialship is a different cattle of fish.

The right to err, to try again in research, in trying to make a break through is a whole new thing altogether.

Making typo errors, putting up factual errors in reports are thru neglect and carelessness and a tidak apa attitude.

Make sure you know the difference. I can post anything I want with all the typo errors left unchecked and not corrected. Some may think it is alright, but I would not. It is not alright even in a casual blog.

If there are mistakes, it means I have missed them, not that I did not bother.

>> As usual Mati contradicts himself in his rantings. He thinks Singapore needs an `iron-fisted, no nonsence Benign Dictator` and then almost in the same breath concedes that this FEAR of being punished that it unwittingly instills is a `tumour` in Singapore`s culture

Firstly being able to contradict your own opinion is a worthwhile skill---among many other benefits, it keeps you from being dogmatic. True, there is always a downside, but that is part of life in everything, so I don't really sweat "small-stuff" like this.

Anyway, in this discussion, there is no contradiction on my part. You have created a false dichotomy i.e. : "under an iron-fisted dictator there can be no creativity, innovation because people fear making mistakes"

Most of political history from ancient times is based on iron-fisted dictatorship. Yet there has been human creativity and innovation and lots of examples of "going against the grain or the status quo".

There are many "outliers" amongst Singaporeans---i.e. individuals who are able to use their own minds and spirit to make up their own minds and beat their own paths.

Another error most people make (look at the posts here for example) is the direction of the arrow of causality, i.e. the question is thus:

Were Singaporeans as a culture already error-intolerant but themselves sloppy and thus prone to error, so LKY came in to deal with this negative cultural trait, or did LKY cause then continue to foster a culture of "fear of mistakes" by having a zero-tolerance for them?

I'm inclined to believe it is a bit of both. However without proper testing it is not possible to draw a definite conclusion.

My 2¢ piece of dubious wisdom: Caveat Emptor---in every aspect of life, it is up to you to do due diligence.

Mistakes can be intended too, so please do not think that all mistakes are unintended, accidental, incidental and due to lack of due diligence.

Anyway, to cut it short, I like to say that ONE THING THAT BUGS ME FOR A VERY LONG TIME IS THE FOUNDATION LAID BY THE SECOND GENERATION AND BEYOND RULERS UNDER THE MENTORSHIP OF A (TOO) PRAGMATIC AND VAINPOT.There were YOO MUCH HOTHOUSING AND QUICKFIX TO MAKE MONEY FOR SIN IN THE NAME OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.

THE FOUNDATION TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WAS NOT AS SOLID LIKED IN THE EARLY YEARS.We started as the Best Seaport, Trading Port with Most Hardworking People running them. To improve and make Living better, Singapore embarked on Industrialisation and expanded marine industries in port, ship, oil rig and shipping.

Life was good and best before the End of the Nineties. Unfortunately, greed sets in and Vice Industries are added into the ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. NOT ONLY SO, THEY ARE TOUTED YO BE AS GOOD AS THE MAIN ENGINES.PAPER TRADES SUCH AS EQUITIES, INSURANCE, FINANCIAL PRODUCTS AND DERIVATIVES, CASINOS, SPA AND ENTERTAINMENT GOT ALL THE FOCUS AND THE ONLY FOUNDATION TO THEM IS JUST mainly PAPERS WITH WORDS. And the professional talkings of the Glib Tongues.

Should Singapore fails and Singaporeas have to suffer ONE DAY, which may not be too far away, I WILL SAY THAT IT IS DUE TO the GREED of Singaporeans. A MISTAKE IS COMMITTED WITH EYES OPEN WIDE WIDE AND AVARICEIS THE CAUSE.

Obviously, the WILY ONES MADE AND SHALL MAKE THEIR PILES BY EXPLOITING THE LESSER GREEDY FOLKS. And All are in the Game together, only difference is that the EXPLOITERS WILL LIVE IN LUXURIES HERE IN SIN OR ANYWHERE ON EARTH.The Others shall have to wait for their heavens if they believe in one.

You are spot on. But it is not the greed of Singaporeans that is at fault though most Singaporeans are greedy. It is the greed of leadership that transcends down the line.

Casinos, allowing the exchange and the banks to become casinos and casino operators. And going for short cuts for talents. No need to bother with Sinkies. Just import the talents, real or fake never mind as long as they looked or sounded like talents.

Instant trees are not grown on solid grounds. They can be easily uprooted in a small storm.

So the question remains open: are the PAP greedy because they come from a stock of greedy people, or did the people become greedy because---as you suggest---the greed some how "propagated" top down from PAP to people?

Since I hold that "the people get the govt they deserve", I would subscribe to the latter. So the "arrow of causality" goes : GREEDY PEOPLE ====>>>> GREEDY GOVT.

You could also add a positive feedback loop (reinforcing): GREEDY PEOPLE===>GREEDY GOVT.===>ADD GREED TO ALREADY GREEDY PEOPLE===>ADD GREED TO GREEDY GOVT MADE UP OF GREEDY PEOPLE===> and so on.

The happenings in the Ang Mo Kio Town Council are outrageous. I am not going to elaborate as the details are everywhere. The similarities be...

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As owner of this blog, I bear no responsibility to what other contributors/bloggers may post. I encourage all to speak freely without indulging in libel or defamatory content. Anyone who feels offended by any posting can email me and I will remove the offending article if appropriate. Contact me at redbeansg@yahoo.com